BROCKTON – Mayor Bill Carpenter’s office is starting to feel the pinch after the City Council voted down another budget item this week that would have transferred funds to the mayor’s office to pay for his staff.

“We’re either going to have to do furloughs or layoffs. That’s the choice,” said Bob Buckley, Carpenter’s chief of staff.

During the City Council meeting on Monday, two items that would have transferred unused funds from the Finance Department to the mayor’s office failed to secure the two-thirds majority necessary to pass.

The first vote was on a piece of legislation that would have transferred $11,864 to the mayor’s office to replace the funding the office had to pay as separation costs to the members of former Mayor Linda Balzotti’s staff who were not retained by Carpenter.

The second vote would have transferred $23,004 to the mayor’s office to fund Carpenter’s current staff, but failed 6-5 after Councilor Michelle DuBois joined the other four councilors in their opposition to the transfers.

Since Carpenter took office, the mayor’s staff has increased by two positions, bringing the total number of employees in the office to seven.

“It is petty and politically-motivated, and we are not going to be able to provide the services to Brockton residents that the city deserves,” Buckley said.

A previous request by the mayor that would have transferred $30,000 from the Finance Department’s budget and $24,200 from the Personnel Department’s budget to the mayor’s office to cover those costs was voted down in early February.

However, some councilors are still skeptical of the need to increase the mayor’s staff and the additional cost that comes with it.

“I still have great concern about the increased staff in the mayor’s office,” said Eaniri, who opposed both transfers. “That’s something that still bothers me when other departments at City Hall are down to the bare bone.”

Other councilors were eager to put the issue behind them, however.

“For the small amount of money it was, I thought we should have passed it,” said Ward 2 Councilor Thomas Monahan “It’s peanuts really when you think about it.”

Monahan is also concerned that the votes could sour an already strained relationship between the two branches of government after Carpenter dropped a lawsuit against the City Council earlier this week over a Water Commission appointment.

“I was just hoping that we could past all the bad feelings and move forward and do what’s right for the city, but I guess not,” Monahan said.